Tuesday, March 24, 2015

257 & Counting

Town Manager & Select Board get to sit at the head table

The Select Board signed the warrant last night and Amherst police posted copies this morning at all the precincts in town so there's no turning back now.  The 257th annual Amherst Town Meeting starts April 27 and runs for as long as it takes (usually two meetings per week) to get through all 30 articles.

A significant reduction from the 42 articles appearing on the warrant last year, which prompted a much talked about editorial in the Springfield Sunday Republican criticizing the molasses like pace of Amherst Town Meeting.

Click to enlarge/read
That year we finished up on June 2nd. 2013 was even worse with 45 articles on the warrant and a dissolving date of June 10th.

30 is not a new record for least amount but it shares that distinction with 2012 and 2009.  At the opposite end of the spectrum 2008 was the largest over the past ten years with 47 articles.

Our $70 million budget is balanced so not much controversy to be generated there.   Additionally, last night the Finance Director told the Select Board that enough savings had been found in health insurance and long term debt payments to cover the cost of the Town Manager's pet project:  A new Economic Development Director.

Police will see a paltry increase of one position but the beleagured Fire Department got burned with no additional staffing.

8 of the 30 articles are via "citizen petition" (it only takes 10 signatures to get on the warrant) and three of the eight are zoning related so they will require a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting to pass.

 Tedious standing vote

One thing that takes up tremendous time every meeting is the procedural process.  Standing votes and tally votes can require 10 or 15 minutes each, and some nights we can have nearly a half-dozen.

Although not in the budget for this year's annual meeting, Finance Director Sandy Pooler did set aside $25,000 for the Fall Town Meeting to buy electronic voting devices for the entire 240 member body.

Which should help speed things up.

Of course the best solution is to reduce the size of the legislative body by 75% and hope some of the more loquacious members do not survive a competitive election. 

 

6 comments:

Dr. Ed said...

Larry, for all the complaints about how UMass students don't participate and how seats in those precincts aren't filled, has anyone realized that Town Meeting is held at what is the most busy & crazy time of year for a college student?

All the papers and such not-yet-finished must be, along with studying for and then taking final exams. Spring is worse because (unlike in K-12) there aren't extra days at the end of the year to make up the snow days, college students just have to do more work in fewer days.

Then, in the spring, they are saying good-by to friends they know they will never see again, trying to find a job if they are graduating, trying to find a summer job if they aren't, and in either case a place to live next year.

The school year is finishing, they aren't focused on Amherst anymore -- even if they had the time to be.

Town Meeting historically was held after the snow had melted so that people could get to it, but before people were busy with crops. When people had time to go, and hence would.

Look at who you have in Town Meeting now -- look at what the median and modal ages are, and that's without recognizing that many of the most active members are living on public assistance. That's why you have the foolishness you do.

If you wanted students to participate in Town Meeting, you would have it in September.

Dr. Ed said...

Two other thoughts:

First, EVERYONE is focused on Amherst in September -- come spring, only the activists are.

Second, the current elective/representative system -- the presumption that the person attending Town Meeting now will have to explain to neighbors next fall what he/she/it did what was done. Neighbors that one has knwn for years and will continue to know for years.

That's not Amherst today.

Maybe the Greeks had it right -- pick a couple hundred people at random and they are this year's Town Meeting...

Anonymous said...

Hi Ed
State law:

Annual Town Meetings, unless otherwise provided by special law or charter, must be held in February, March, April or May. The Board of Selectman may delay the annual meeting, but it must be completed by June 30th.

Anonymous said...

Ed,

I first participated in Amherst Town Meeting in my 20s, and have served (off and on) as an elected member (as well as on various Town committees) since my early 30s.

Not to to give you any ideas, but have you volunteered to serve on a Town committee or ever been elected Town Meeting?

- Anonymous non-robot

Anonymous said...

Ed,

You do respect the law, don't you?

Life can't be exactly the way we want it.

Dr. Ed said...

"unless otherwise provided by special law or charter,"

And your question is?